Societal rules have always determined the perception of the naked female body. Earlier this year, Playboy published the slogan “Naked is normal” on the cover of their iconic erotic magazine. The omnipresence of nudity in our digital era was previously the reason editor Cory Jones stopped publishing nude photos in the magazine in October 2015. Creative director Cooper Hefner stated in February 2017 on Playboy’s social media that the company will resume their naked publishing. According to Hefner, “Nudity was never the problem because nudity isn’t a problem. Today we’re taking our identity back and claiming who we are.” The discussion surrounding the naked female body and her relationship with eroticism is ongoing. The female form has been depicted and viewed for centuries, but it’s rarely accepted. Let’s take a look at the perception of the female form over the years.

In the prehistoric era, it’s presumed the presentation of the female body had a cultural and spiritual purpose. Some of the first artifacts that depicted the female body were small clay forms of thick women’s bodies, otherwise known as Venus figurines. These figurines would ensure fertility, or encourage the population to have sex. This spiritual meaning of the naked female form is evident in different religions in which eroticism and the body are associated with divine powers. Think the Roman Catholic Church’s frescoes of deceased angels or the Greek goddesses.

The naked female body has been restricted by social constructs throughout history. ISTOCK

The ancient Greeks and Christian artists used the female form in their art, even though the depicted female nudity wasn’t meant to be viewed by women themselves. Many paintings, such as the infamous painting of Gustave Courbet’s Sleep, were painted not for a woman’s fantasy but for a man’s. Women were not even allowed to entertain sensual or sexual fantasies. In Sexuality: Social and Cultural Constructs of Women Represented Through Art author G. Clarke notes that “Western religion, especially Christianity, discourages women to think of sex, to discuss sex, and teaches the negative aspects of female sexuality; that is to be hidden away never to be discussed, and thus never to be understood.” In addition, the mere woman in Christianity was sometimes even regarded as the ultimate evil; thus, the vagina was compared to “the yawning mouth of hell.” In popular culture this is now referred to as the vagina dentata. Read full original article…